International Music Day FLASHMOB
21/06/2024
Salieri Café
22/06/2024International Music Day FLASHMOB
21/06/2024Salieri Café
22/06/202421.6
Fuori Festival
P.zza della Transalpina – Trg Evrope (Gorizia/Nova Gorica)
As part of the official program of GO! 2025 Nova Gorica and Gorizia European Capital of Culture, the Piccolo Opera Festival brings back “Il viaggio a Reims,” the opera Rossini wrote for the coronation of Charles X of Bourbon. The performance takes place exactly two hundred years after the premiere (Théâtre-Italien in Paris, June 19, 1825). Charles X chose charming Gorizia (and in particular Palazzo Coronini, where he died) for his last days of life and, as his eternal home, the Monastery of Castagnevizza in nearby Slovenia. The Piccolo Opera Festival’s production restores the essence of boundless artistic expression and emphasizes the historical value of the city as a crossroads of cultures and development since ancient times.
The play is set in a luxurious spa (the subtitle is in fact “The Hotel of the Golden Lily”) where a group of gentlemen, wealthy members of the highest noble classes from all over Europe, are organizing an expedition bound for the coronation ceremony of the new ruler; in a series of quadrettos-love entanglements, quarrels, buffoonery, mockery and reflection-the short stories of as many as 18 characters follow one another.
An atypical opera in terms of theatrical and musical structure, with an almost “rhapsodic” form with a strong ironic and irreverent component against the paradoxes of the bourgeoisie. The setting in cross-border Gorizia transforms the Transalpina Station and the square into a natural stage of lights and colors, of refinement and, at the same time, of elegant exaggerations of which the Golden Lily is the theater.
The poetically staged square becomes the scene itself; the audience is an integral part of the narrative and experiences story and atmosphere in the first person. The magic of the opera, which never conceives of boundaries, restores history, feelings, the essence of the land.
SYNOPSIS
Il viaggio a Reims ossia L'Albergo del Giglio d'Oro (The Journey to Reims, or The Golden Lily), a "comic drama" in one act with libretto by Luigi Balocchi, is actually a very complex opera of considerable length, as befitted the occasion for which it was composed, namely the coronation of Charles X, King of France. However, its strictly celebratory nature prevented it from entering the repertoire: despite its resounding success on June 19, 1825, at the Théâtre-Italien, at the height of the celebrations and in the presence of the king, Rossini withdrew it after only three performances and reused some of its numbers for Le Comte Ory a few years later. However, the opera was revived in Paris, with some adaptations, by the same theater in 1848 (Andremo a Parigi?/"Shall we go to Paris?") and in Vienna for the wedding of Emperor Franz Joseph to Elisabeth of Bavaria, the famous Sissi, in 1854 (Il viaggio a Vienna/"The Journey to Vienna"). After that, all traces of it were lost for over a century, until 1977, when the parts not used by Rossini for Le Comte Ory were found in the library of the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome.
It was therefore thanks to the Rossini Foundation in Pesaro that, drawing on this and other archival sources (preserved at the Bibliothèque National de Paris and the Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek in Vienna), a critical edition was edited, leading to the memorable Italian premiere in 1984 at the Rossini Opera Festival, conducted by Claudio Abbado, directed by Luca Ronconi, set design by Gae Aulenti and a cast that brought together some of the most illustrious names in opera, including Lucia Valentini Terrani, Samuel Ramey, Ruggero Raimondi, Cecilia Gasdia, Enzo Dara, and Leo Nucci.
The opera does not have a real plot, but rather recounts the commotion stirring up the hotel (or rather, the casa de’ bagni) at the Plombières spa, where a series of distinguished guests from various European countries are preparing to attend the coronation ceremony in Reims of the new king of France, Charles X of Bourbon.
Attempting to govern the cheerful chaos of the Giglio d'Oro is the owner, Madama Cortese, a charming and witty woman, a native of Tyrol, assisted by the hotel doctor, Don Prudenzio, who is always attentive to providing the best service for the guests, among whom we find the Countess of Folleville, a Parisian à la page, a young widow accompanied by her cousin Don Luigino and courted by the handsome Cavaliere Belfiore, a cheerful and elegant French officer who courts all the ladies and enjoys painting. Then there is the Baron of Trombonok, a German major who is passionate about music, Don Profondo, an academic scholar and fanatic of antiquities, and Don Alvaro, Grandee of Spain, who introduces the Baron to the Marquise Melibea, a Polish widow of an Italian general, with whom he is in love, having as his rival the Count of Libenskof, a Russian gentleman. And finally, there is the English Lord Sydney, whose heart beats for Corinna, a famous Roman improviser, accompanied by the young Delia, a Greek orphan, his protégée and traveling companion. In the frantic pace of the day, amid couriers, waiters, carriages, and horses, small comic dramas unfold, scenes of jealousy and gallantry, until it becomes clear to everyone that the journey will not be possible, but that in the end the whole company will move to Paris to the Countess's house to welcome the new king there. But not before a magnificent party, with a celebration of the royal family in music and poetry.
CREATIVE TEAM (biographies)
Marin Blažević – Theater director and dramaturg
Marin Blažević is a dramaturg and theater director, manager and creative producer, scholar and lecturer in theater and live performance at the University of Zagreb and in master's programs at Columbia University.
His productions as director and dramaturg include many titles, among which: Julius Caesar in Egypt, Othello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Aida, La Traviata, Tosca, Carmen, Romeo and Juliet, Electra. Among his most recent works are Ferruccio Busoni's meta-opera Arlecchino, Arianna a Nasso, Don Carlo, and Don Giovanni.
As a dramaturg, he has worked on numerous productions and has conceived theatrical projects and operas (Le Baccanti, La signorina Julie, La Trilogia sul fascismo croato, Carmen, Rigoletto).
He was a member of the first Committee for the European Capital of Culture – Rijeka 2020, which conceived the theme of the project: Port of Diversity – Migration, Water, Work.
He was Artistic Director of the Croatian National Theater in Rijeka and, until 2024, General Director and Artistic Director of the same theater.
Wolfgang von Zoubek - Scenes, Video, and Lighting
Wolfgang von Zoubek began his career as a lighting technician at the Salzburg Festival under Herbert von Karajan in the mid-1980s. He went on to study lighting technology and light design in Munich and at Stanford University. Since then, he has established himself as a freelance set designer and lighting designer worldwide, working in opera, theater, television, and architectural projects.
His lighting designs have created extraordinary stagings for opera productions at festivals in Salzburg, Bayreuth, Pesaro, and Bregenz, as well as impressive environmental and light sculptures around the world, in Monte Carlo, Nice, Paris, Madrid, Bilbao, Rome, Turin, Naples, Palermo, Tokyo, Pretoria, and Sydney.
He has collaborated with world-renowned directors such as Giancarlo del Monaco, Herbert Wernicke, Harry Kupfer, Jêrome Savary, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Luis Pasqual, Gustav Kuhn, Karoline Gruber, Franziska Severin, Margarethe Wallmann, Reto Nickler, and Daniele Abbado.
Sandra Dekanić - Costumes
She has been working in costume design since 2002. She has created more than two hundred original costumes for theater, opera, and ballet performances, as well as musicals and films. She gained her first experience as an assistant costume designer, costume designer, and then head of the costume department at the Croatian National Theater in Rijeka. She then embarked on an independent creative career and has collaborated with around thirty theaters and festivals in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy, Austria, Poland, Portugal, and Germany, working alongside several important directors, including Marin Blažević, Oliver Frljić, Renata Carola Gatica, Toni Cafiero, Tomi Janežič, Eduard Miler, Ana Vukotić, and Ivica Boban. Her best-known creations include the costumes for the operas Aida and Carmen directed by Marin Blažević for the Arena in Pula, the Shakespeare-Verdi Trilogy at the Croatian National Theater in Rijeka, Mozart's The Magic Flute directed by Renata Carole Gatica, and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet directed by Oliver Frljić at the Schauspielhaus in Stuttgart.
Marko Hribernik – Concertmaster and conductor
Slovenian conductor Marko Hribernik was born into a family of musicians and began his musical career as a pianist, graduating from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana under Professor Aci Bertoncelj. He also received the Prešeren Student Award for his remarkable achievements as a pianist. As a conductor, he trained first at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana with Maestro Anton Nanut and then with Maestro Uroš Lajovic at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where he graduated with honors in 2014. He collaborates with all Slovenian orchestras and both national opera houses. He performs as a guest conductor at various European music and opera theatres and festivals.
He is an associate professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Music and, since 2021, artistic director of the Slovenian National Theatre in Ljubljana (SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana), where he will take on the role of general and artistic director in 2025.
Elia Macrì - Choir Master
After graduating in piano, choir conducting, and Baroque singing at the Conservatory “G. Tartini” in Trieste, Elia Mcrì studied for three years at the Academy “F. Liszt” in Budapest. He also deepened his study of chamber music in annual courses held by the Trio di Parma. In 2009, he founded the Cappella Musicale Beata Vergine del Rosario in Trieste, with which he carries out an intense conducting activity, ranging from Gregorian chant to Renaissance polyphony and the great repertoires for soloists, choir, and orchestra. He has gained experience in the field of musical theater as a collaborative pianist at the G. Verdi Theater in Trieste and as a regular collaborator with the Piccolo Opera Festival of Friuli Venezia Giulia. He teaches piano practice and reading at the A. Corelli Conservatory in Messina.
Eric Foster - Harpsichord Maestro
Eric Foster is a pianist, organist, and conductor from the United Kingdom, where he earned his bachelor's degree in music from Oxford University. Since 2016, he has lived and worked in Italy as an accompanist. Since October 2022, he has been a collaborative pianist at the Teatro Sociale in Como.
In 2022, he completed his studies at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, with teachers such as James Vaughan, Umberto Finazzi, and Dante Mazzola. He previously graduated as a collaborative pianist from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome with top marks in October 2020.
He has collaborated as an accompanist in various festivals and theaters in Italy (Piccolo Opera Festival FVG, Pan Opera Festival in Umbria, opera season at the Teatro Comunale in Treviso), and abroad he accompanies the Coro Lirico di Lugano in Switzerland.